Drowse is the musical project of American musician and producer Kyle Bates. Based in Portland, Oregon, Bates foundedthe project in 2013 and released the debut album, Soon Asleep, in 2015. Bates collaborates with other musicians during his home recordings and live shows.
History
Before forming Drowse, Bates played in local bands and recorded music on his laptop. In 2011 Bates experienced a dissociative mental breakdown that would inform the first few Drowse releases. In 2013 he released an EP, Songs to Sleep On through Television Records and began performing live with help from various Portland musicians. Drowse released its debut albumSoon Asleep through Apneic Void Sounds in 2015. The album featured Portland based singer Tuesday Faust. Following the release of Soon Asleep, Drowse recorded music that was contributed to Miserable's 2016 album, Uncontrollable. In 2016 Drowse released an EP titled Memory Bed through New York based label The Native Sound. Memory Bed featured vocal and lyrical collaborations with Maya Stoner. Drowse signed to The Flenser to release sophomore album Cold Air in 2018. Directly after the release Bates became an artist in residence in Skagaströnd, Iceland, resulting in new work including Fog Storm pts. 1-4, released as a split with Planning For Burial. Light Mirror, Drowse's second album for The Flenser, was announced for release in 2019–it features material recorded in Iceland and at home. Drowse has shared the stage with a wide range of musical acts, including Planning for Burial and King Woman.
Musical style
Drowse derives influence from multiple genres and has been labeled "drone-pop", "shoegaze/drone", and "dream pop." Vice described the project's sound as "the aural equivalent of blood rushing back to a sleeping limb" and likened it to a "post-black metal take on" English shoegazing band Slowdive and Texaspost-rock band Explosions in the Sky. Spin writer Matt Malone noted that "Drowse prioritizes music over lyrics, using vocals not to tell a story as much as add an instrumental layer to the music's soothing fog." A.V. Club critic Brian Shultz characterized the project's sound as "breathy, entrancing, and certainly a little bit eerie." Cris Lankenau, writing for Willamette Week, compared Drowse to other Pacific Northwest musical acts Mount Eerie and Grouper. Lars Gotrich from NPR reinforced the comparison, saying "Drowse sounds like an intimate Mount Eerie home recording overdubbed with a worn-out cassette of The Cure's Disintegration."
